Late Goal Gives Foxboro Win over Stoughton High Boys’ Soccer

After , the Stoughton High boys’ soccer team had a rematch with the Warriors Tuesday afternoon at home. Unfortunately for the Black Knights, the same scenario played out in the second meeting between the two Davenport Division rivals.

Foxboro won a very hard fought season-opener with a late second half goal to earn a one-goal victory.

In the rematch, after Foxboro dominated the first half, taking a 1-0 lead, countered with inspired play to tie the score, only to see the Warriors score the game-winner with just ten minutes left to take another 2-1 victory.

Stoughton’s frustrating season continues with its seventh one-goal defeat. The Black Knights are now 1-10-1 overall, 1-9-1 in the Hockomock League and 0-5-0 in the Davenport Division.

The win was a very big one for Foxboro who now improves to 6-5-0 overall and 5-5-0 in the Davenport Division. A .500 record is what’s needed to qualify for the postseason tournament, putting the Warriors to advance to the playoffs for the first time in nine years.

Foxboro got off to a quick start with a 9-3 shot advantage (including six shots on goal). Stoughton senior goaltender Michael Vulakh, who again kept the Black Knights in the game, had 13 saves throughout the contest.

Senior captain Sawyer Fleck got the Warriors on the scoreboard in the game’s eleventh minute with a hard shot from an assist by junior Aidan Hyland.

Foxboro kept sustained offensive pressure on Stoughton, but the Stoughton defense was equal to the task led by seniors Steve Colling and Zach Finer, and kept the deficit at one goal entering halftime.

Stoughton coach Matt Bernstein countered by spreading out the team and using players in different positions to create a more balanced attack. It worked as Stoughton took over control of the game, outshooting Foxboro 5-1 in the opening twenty minutes of the second half. Gabriel Garcia, a senior, helped to lead the Stoughton offense.

Finer was awarded a free kick only ten yards out from the goal and sent a laser past Foxboro sophomore goaltender Nick Adair (six saves) to tie the score, 1-1, with 30 minutes left.

After the goal Stoughton continued to put the pressure on Adair, but couldn’t finish any other scoring opportunities.

“We now have seven one-goal losses and have only scored eight goals in twelve games. We can’t capitalize on our opportunities,” Bernstein said.

“We put ourselves in a position to win, but we need to execute and score. It’s frustrating and we can take consolation that we’re close and young and our effort is there, but it takes more than that to win in such a tough league.”

Stoughton ran out of chances and maybe out of gas after a game at Catholic Memorial, the day before. Foxboro also counter attacked and switched formations with an extra attacker. The Warriors began to move and distribute the ball faster and soon took over territorially the final fifteen minutes of the game.

Fleck (nine goals) once again had a scoring opportunity and once again scored with an assist from senior Brandon Fowler, with only ten minutes left, to give Foxboro back a lead that it would never relinquish.

“This was a big win for us,” Foxboro coach Patrick Nash said. “It certainly wasn’t pretty, but we played hard and responded to Stoughton’s comeback and now we’ve put ourselves in a good position.”

Both teams will have a tough upcoming schedule as Foxboro travels to first place and Canton for a Friday night contest.

Stoughton has a week off to regroup before facing Oliver Ames next Tuesday, followed by games against two other Davenport Division rivals, Canton and Sharon.